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FAUST
BY
COPYRIGHT 1913 BY
MITCHELL KENNERLEY
THE·PLIMPTON·PRESS
NORWOOD·MASS·U·S·A
CONTENTS[v]
PAGE
Introduction vii
List of Plays by Arthur Davison Ficke x
Mr. Faust 1
The author gratefully acknowledges his debt for permission[vi] to reprint one of the lyrics herein, which
appeared originally in "Poetry."
INTRODUCTION[vii]
Through all the work of Arthur Davison Ficke runs a note of bigness that compels attention even when one
feels that he is still groping both for form and thought. In "Mr. Faust" this note has assumed commanding
proportions, while at the same time the uncertainty manifest in some of the earlier work has almost wholly
disappeared. Intellectually as well as artistically, this play shows a surprising maturity. It impresses me, for
one, as the expression of a well-rounded and very profound philosophy of life—and this philosophy stands in
logical and sympathetic relationship to what the western world to-day regards as its most advanced thought.
The evolutionary conception of life is the foundation of that philosophy, which, however, has little or nothing
in common with the materialistic and dogmatic evolutionism of the last century. The work sprung from that
philosophy is full of the new sense of mystery, which makes the men of to-day realize that the one attitude
leading nowhere is that of denial. Faith and doubt walk hand in hand, each one being to the other check and
goad alike. And with this new freedom to believe as well as to question, man becomes once more the centre of
his known universe. But there he stands, humbly proud, not as the arrogant master of a "dead" world, but
merely as[viii] the foremost servant of a life-principle which asserts itself in the grain of sand as in the brain
of man.
Yet "Mr. Faust" is by no means a philosophical or moral tract. It is, first of all and throughout, a living,
breathing work of art, instinct with beauty and faithful in its every line to the principle laid down by its author
in the preface to one of his earlier volumes: "Poetical imagination must fail altogether if it descends from its
natural sphere and assumes work which is properly that of economic or political experience. Nor can it
usefully urge its own peculiar intuitions as things of practical validity."
MR. FAUST 1
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mr. Faust, by Arthur Davison Ficke
Mr. Ficke was born in 1883 at Davenport, Iowa, and there he is still living, although I understand that he has
since then been wandering in so many other regions, physical and spiritual, that he can hardly call it his home.
He graduated from Harvard in 1904 and spent the next travelling in all sorts of strange and poetic
places—Japan, India, the Greek mountains, the Aegean Islands. Returning to the United States, he studied law
and was admitted to the Bar in 1908. While studying, he taught English for a year at the University of Iowa,
lecturing on the history of the Arthurian Legends.
He was a mere boy when he began to write, turning from the first to the metrical form of expression and
remaining faithful to it in most of his subsequent efforts. His poems and essays have been printed in almost all
the leading magazines. So far he has published five volumes of verse: "From the Isles," a series of lyrics of the
Aegean Sea; "The Happy Princess," a romantic narrative poem; "The Earth Passion," a series of poems which
may be characterized[ix] as the effort of a star-gazer to find satisfaction in the things of the earth; "The
Breaking of Bonds," a Shelleyan drama of social unrest, where he has tried to formulate a hope for our final
emergence from the maelstrom of class-conflict; and "Twelve Japanese Painters," a group of poems
expressive of the peculiar and alluring charm of the great Japanese painters and their world of remote beauty.
Edwin Björkman.
INTRODUCTION[vii] 2
MR. FAUST[1]
INSCRIPTION
Pale Goethe, Marlowe, Lessing—calm your fears!
None plots to steal your laurel wreaths away.
Approach; take tickets: you shall witness here
The unromantic Faustus of to-day—
A Faustus whom no mystic choirs sustain,
No wizard fiends blind with prodigious spell.
The mortal earth shall serve him as domain
Whether he mount to Heaven or sink to Hell.
Yet, mount or sink, your lights around him shine.
And there shall flow, bubbling with woe or mirth,
From these new bottles your familiar wine,
As ancient as man's rule upon the earth.
THE FIRST ACT[3]
The scene is the library of John Faust, a large handsome room panelled in dark oak and lined with rows of
books in open book-shelves. On the right is a carved white stone fireplace, with deep chairs before it. In the
far left corner of the room, on a pedestal, stands a stiff bust of George Washington. Near it hangs a wonderful
Titian portrait, a thing of another world. The furniture looks as if it were, and probably is, plunder from the
palace of some prince of the Renaissance.
A fire is burning in the fireplace; it, and several shaded lights, make a subdued brilliancy in the room. Before
the fire sits John Faust. Brander and Oldham, both in evening dress, lounge comfortably in chairs near Faust.
All three are smoking, and tall highball glasses stand within their reach.
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
Not alone
Your attitude to-night; you always seem
MR. FAUST[1] 3
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mr. Faust, by Arthur Davison Ficke
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
OLDHAM
FAUST
Certainly; I beg
Your pardon; I neglected you.
(He busies himself with the glasses)
[5]No, no,
We won't wage combat over this. You're right,
Doubtless, as usual, Brander. I have not
Your fortunate placidity of mind,
And I get grumpy.
BRANDER
OLDHAM
BRANDER
Midge.
OLDHAM
BRANDER
OLDHAM
BRANDER
Up in the gallery.
OLDHAM
BRANDER
Yes.
OLDHAM
BRANDER
FAUST
OLDHAM
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
OLDHAM
FAUST
Not quite:
But just a little tired of pursuits
That end regretfully.[8]
OLDHAM
BRANDER
OLDHAM
FAUST
Good night,
Brander, I'm sorry you must go: come in
Quite soon again, and I will try to be
Less disagreeable than I was to-night.
[Brander goes out.
OLDHAM
FAUST
OLDHAM
FAUST
OLDHAM
Of course,
And so do I; but I would not exchange
Heads for a kingdom.
FAUST
OLDHAM
FAUST
OLDHAM
Come, come!
What snake has bitten you, that to your lips
A poisoned irony so bitter springs
To-night?
FAUST
I am revolving in my brain
This serious question: whether 'tis not best
That one turn humorist. The mind that seeks
Holiness, finds it seldom; who pursues
Beauty perhaps shall in a lengthened life
Find it perfected only once or twice.
But if one's quest were humor—what rich stores,[10]
What tropic jungles of it, lie to hand
At every moment, everywhere one turns—
What luscious meadows for the humorist!
OLDHAM
FAUST
OLDHAM
FAUST
Almost you do
Persuade me to turn humorist on the spot!
Was ever, since Gargantua, such a vine
Heavy with bursting clusters of the grape
Of humor?
OLDHAM
FAUST
I am not sure.
OLDHAM
FAUST
OLDHAM
FAUST
OLDHAM
FAUST
OLDHAM
FAUST
All is foolishness!
In Argolis, a woman, somewhat vain,
Preferred a fop to her own rightful lord
And ran away; and then for ten long years
The might of Hellas on the Trojan plain
Grappled in conflict such as had been mete
To guard Olympus, and Scamander ran
Red with heroic blood-drops. And they got
The woman. And it all was foolishness!...
That was your Golden Age. I hope you like it.
OLDHAM
FAUST
Dear Oldham!
My dear delightful visionary Oldham!
What an adorer of the past you are!
OLDHAM
FAUST
OLDHAM
FAUST
OLDHAM
I deserve it!
And yet I fear they will not be so kind....
Sleep is no friend to me these many nights.
I do not know what wrong I can have done
That so offends her she will none of me.
One of these days, she will carry it too far....
[Oldham goes out. Faust turns out all but two of
the lights; then seats himself wearily before the fire.
The room is dark around his lighted figure.
FAUST
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
Himself.
FAUST
SATAN
I am
Satan. If I appeared with colored fire
And lightnings round me, you would doubt no more.
But like your narrow and near-sighted age,
You know me not in my own natural shape.
Now let this end! Here is my proof. You once
Summoned me to your aid, and, when I came,
Weakly rejected me. You were a boy
In college, and a woman blackmailed you—
A low, crude matter. I had settled it
Swiftly, if you had let me. We alone,
We three, on Harvard Bridge—night—and beneath,
A practicable river: ah, it was
A child's task! But you faltered.... You recall,
Possibly.[20]
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
Incredible.
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
My young friend,
I am no laughing matter. With the times
I, too, have changed, and am as up-to-date
As the Ritz-Carlton.
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
I admit
It has a certain perfectness of evil
Lacking in you.
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
Why, no—
SATAN
Ah, well!
It's my mistake; wires get crossed sometimes.
I hope I've not intruded.
FAUST
Not at all.
Delighted to have met you.
SATAN
I regret
That I have bothered you. I have enjoyed,
However, your kind hospitality.
To make amends to you, before I go,
I should be glad to do you any service
Within my power.
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
I would hardly go
As far as that!... I only meant to say[23]
My needs, my troubles, are not of such kind
As you could remedy.
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
And besides,
A most accomplished mocker!... My complaint
Is quite beyond your counsel. Why, I tell you,
I have examined, tried, experienced
The passions and the aims of mortal life
With the grave thoroughness and good intent
That mark a doctor of philosophy
Writing his thesis. And my careful search
Of life has brought me one great verity:
I do not like it! No, I do not like
Anything in it: birth, death, all that lies
Between—I find inadequate, incomplete,
Offensive. So you see me sitting here,
Instead of talking politics in the streets,[24]
Or weeping at the opera, or agog
At a cotillon. For the savor's gone
From these, as parts of an unsavored whole.
I simply have, with reason and sound thought,
Convinced myself that only fools attain
Their hope on earth—in a fools' paradise
That does not interest me.... Now, could you treat
This case, good Mr. Satan?
SATAN
In my day,
I have relieved far sicker men than you,
My dear friend Faust. And yet I would not say
Even for a moment that your case is not
A grave one: not so much the case itself,
As what might spring from it. In such a mood,
Men sometimes have done mad and foolish things
With consequences sad to view. Some minds,
Reaching your state, and finding life a bane,
Decide within themselves that naught can be
Worse than the present world, and then set out
To revolutionize, rend, whirl, uproot
The world's foundations. And the mess they make
Is pitiful to contemplate! Such sweet
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
Go tell
That tale to college boys, whose lonely dreams
Have shaped Iseult of Ireland, Helen of Troy,
As end of heart's desire—and, lacking these,
Clasp chorus-Aphrodites. But I know
That from the topmost peak of ecstasy
Falls a straight precipice; half-times the foot
Misses the peak—but never mortal step
Has missed the gulf beyond it. And I see
Where, in night's gorgeous dome, to-morrow waits
With cold insistence. Me you cannot lure
With this poor opiate. And I beg of you
Not needlessly to tax your mental powers
By now suggesting the delights of drink:
I know them; and they give me headaches.
SATAN
Ah,
How crude you think me!
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
Indeed he is:
And not a bad one. Once I would have scorned
The poets; but we moderns so surpass
The ancients here that I am proud to write
Some verses now and then. For we have learned
That poetry, like all the other arts,
Is pure technique: the mere ideas are nothing,
The form is everything. That ennobles us
And makes us artists. And as artist, I
Am not contemptible, as you may see
From this slight sample. With your leave, I'll read.
[27] (Satan produces an enormous scrap-book of magazine-clippings,
turns over the pages and at last begins to read)
A Watteau Melody
Splendid! Delightful!
SATAN
FAUST
Well, as art
I think it splendid; as philosophy,
I hardly praise it. 'Tis a mood that comes
And has its will of us in its own hours—
Yes, irresistibly. But past the hour
Wait graver judges. I decline to be,
As you suggest delightfully, a fly
On the spoiled beer of life. Nor do I lean
Toward your ingenious blending of despair,
Satiety, and child's-play.
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
Perhaps, perhaps.
And yet I must decline.
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
There is
No mystery in that. I would ally
You to myself.
FAUST
Thanks, I decline.
SATAN
You fail
To understand me. For I ask not this
As promise of you.
FAUST
SATAN
Let me make
The matter clear to you. I know quite well
The risk is nothing, since my paradise
Will utterly delight you. Granting this,[34]
You see my profit: you will stay with me
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
I accept.
Your game is to my taste. For thirty years
Have I made search through all the lands of earth,
The realms of learning, and the tangled groves
Of fancy, for some region which my soul
Might with entire approval view; but none
Has been vouchsafed me. If the Devil can
In this surpass the world's established powers,
Then I am his disciple willingly....
But if you fail, friend Satan!—I shall tie
You to a cart's tail and exhibit you[35]
Like a dead whale throughout the country—or
Make you curator of an orphanage!
SATAN
OLDHAM (enters)
FAUST
OLDHAM
SATAN
OLDHAM
FAUST
You come
Just at the proper moment for good-bye,
For I am going with him on a journey,
And do not know how soon I shall return.
If I return at all.
OLDHAM
A journey? Where?
SATAN
To paradise.
FAUST
He offers paradise
That will suffice my wish, and gives himself
As pledge of his success.
SATAN
FAUST
To paradise!...
OLDHAM
FAUST
My friend,
It is not possible. I do foresee
Some perils to whose touch I would subject
None save myself.
OLDHAM
SATAN
We go
To paradise. What is this Hell you name?
CURTAIN
Faust, Satan and Oldham, all wearing white tropical dress and sun-helmets, are seated on fragments of fallen
columns in front of the pool. Luncheon is spread before them. Oldham is lighting a cigarette; Faust is just
finishing his meal; Satan is leaning back, contemplating the surrounding jungle. Two dark-skinned servants,
wearing white robes and turbans, are beginning to bear away the repast.
OLDHAM
FAUST
SATAN
OLDHAM
SATAN
OLDHAM
OLDHAM
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
In this heat
Even he grows crazy; and we, Satan, turn
Unsympathetic creatures. Whew, this blaze
Is getting worse! Can't we move on?
SATAN
We go
No farther.
FAUST
Lovely residence!
SATAN
It is here
That our long journey terminates, my friends.
Upon this spot I trust, if all goes well,
To give your long tried patience recompense.
SATAN
OLDHAM
SATAN
FAUST
Ah, a wonder-worker!
Perhaps he will perform the mango trick,
Or the rope-climbing, or the boy-in-the-basket?
The jugglers here have been below report
One hears of them.[42]
SATAN
FAUST
OLDHAM
SATAN
FAUST
Pray teach me
A little something also.
SATAN
FAUST
OLDHAM
SATAN
SATAN
OLDHAM
What a face!
What light, what soundless calm!
FAUST
He is, indeed,
One of the ancient prophets....
SATAN
Holy One!
Satan salutes you!
Satan—come again
After so long? A little longer—then
No carcass of illusion here shall wait
To greet you.
SATAN
SATAN
SATAN
On theirs!
And who are your companions?
SATAN
FAUST
FAUST
Paradise! Paradise![45]
SATAN
SATAN
SATAN
OLDHAM
Other lands
Know the same tale.[47]
For I saw
Birth and desire, satiety and pain,
Recurrent yearning that is never stilled,
Agony, death, rebirth in other forms,
And agony, and desire, and agony.
But nowhere saw I happiness or peace
Or rest from cravings that like vultures tear
The fibres of the heart.
Then wandered I
Forth from my palaces in utter pain,
Seeing the world as dust and vanity,
A desert of despair, a raging sea
Of torment....
SATAN
OLDHAM
He speaks
Out of familiar deeps. Seas sunder us,
But the same stars have cast their ghostly rays
Into our bosoms.[48]
FAUST
I am refreshed....
Thus long ago, in my most desolate hour,
I was refreshed by draughts from the deep springs
Of light. Beneath a pipal tree I sat
In lost despair; and thither to me came
A pilgrim; and he glanced into mine eyes
With sight that read the sickness of my soul,
And sat beside me, and in measured words
Like far-off song told me this parable:
He looked uncomprehendingly,
And wearily he shook his head;
And turned once more to drag the sea,
Knowing not what the Buddha said.
FAUST
OLDHAM
He speaks a miracle!...
So the lust
Of life passed from me; so the narrow I
Merged in the infinite, from hope set free—
Heritor of Nirvana's holy calm,
Wherein the voices of the heart's unrest
Are stifled, and the soul expands to clasp
Joy, nothingness, eternity and peace.
FAUST
FAUST
And where
Shall I find deeps wherein without a sound
I can extinguish my wild will that leaps
Flamelike to meet the stars?
FAUST
Can it be
That life's whole burden may be cast aside
And named as nothing, and its memory
Perish forever? In the summer nights,
Comes there no stealing ecstasy to stir
The old forgotten longings?
In the night
And in the day, one ecstasy abides
Ceaselessly with the heart that has put off
Desire—one ecstasy of final calm.
All other voices seem harsh clamorings.
OLDHAM
SATAN
FAUST
OLDHAM
Faust, I feel,
Transfused with light and glory, that deep peace
Awaiting. There shall perish like a flame
The passions which have seared my tortured soul
All my life long. They die; and nothingness
Like a cool flood sweeps over me. Ah, come
Where never storm shall smite!
FAUST
OLDHAM
FAUST
OLDHAM
Me the peace
Already laps with wavelets of the flood.
FAUST
OLDHAM
Farewell, farewell,
Belovèd friend. I with the Holy One
Henceforth am linked; and grief shall follow me
In what should be your footsteps.
FAUST
Have no grief.
In the vast deeps of life's salt bitter sea
Perhaps awaits my anodyne, to heal
Life's wounds....[55]
OLDHAM
Farewell! I go to paradise.
[Oldham and the Holy One move slowly away together,
pass through the colonnades, and disappear into the
forest. Faust follows with his eyes their retreating figures.
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
What!
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
Please you!
There are few things that I desire less.
To heel!
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
Magnanimous
Your laughter sounds! True, you have beaten me,
And I am at your mercy. By some whim,
Trick, technicality, your mind rejects
A noble paradise; and to my pledge
You therefore are entitled. And I stand
Ready to pay it.
FAUST
I have been
Frank with you always. And, if to your taste,
I will be franker still. Your stake is won;
You have your triumph: but does it quite fill
The chambers of your heart? Will it suffice
In place of that bright paradise you dreamed
Might be your gain as loser? Ah, my friend,
In copper you have won, but lost in gold!
And victory will not requite for that
Your empty treasury.
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
Enough! Enough!
SATAN
FAUST
No.
I will admit that.
SATAN
Faust, I know
In other regions, beneath other skies,
One haven more, the only one of earth
That can be judged in glory to surpass
This paradise you entered not. My faith
Is absolute that it is to your need
Utterly moulded. Like your heart itself,
Its halls are structured, destinate for you
As perfect refuge. And I say to you:
Give me the leave, and I will lead you there
For one supreme and ultimate trial of choice[59]
That has no doubtful outcome. And my pledge
Shall still be valid! If this refuge gives
Not all that you desire, you still may claim
My service as your slave. Thus do you risk
No atom, but have gain of one last chance
To win the paradise you hunger for!
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
Away! Away!
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
A long path?
SATAN
Yes.
FAUST
SATAN
The nave is empty, except for an occasional figure moving at the far end of the long central aisle, and an
occasional attendant in sacerdotal robes making ready the Altar.
Faust, entering from the right, and Satan, entering from the left, meet in the foreground. Satan is dressed in
the dark robes of a priest.
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
She is coming.
[A young woman, hardly more than a girl, comes
from between the pillars and approaches Faust.
Satan withdraws a little as she approaches.
THE WOMAN
FAUST
Why, it seems...
THE WOMAN
FAUST
THE WOMAN
Still
I have not told you who I am, and you
Do not yet know me. I am Mrs. Brander.
FAUST
THE WOMAN
FAUST
No.
Of course, I am astounded; it's delightful—
And most surprising.
THE WOMAN
FAUST
THE WOMAN
I don't believe
That you can yet!
FAUST
Why....
THE WOMAN
FAUST
MIDGE
Yes! exactly.
FAUST
MIDGE
FAUST
Thank you—indeed
I shall be very glad to!
MIDGE
[65]And I know—
How shall I say it?—that you'll think me strange,
And that I cannot ever be your friend
As Mr. Brander is. I know so little—
FAUST
MIDGE
But I am so eager
That you should give me just a little trial—
I want so much to know you, and so much
He should not lose you....
FAUST
MIDGE
FAUST
I'll come!
MIDGE
FAUST
Well, of all
Impossible, grotesque, outrageous tricks
That Brander could have played upon himself!
Married—the fool, the fool!—And yet she is
Curiously sweet and fresh, that kitchen-maid.
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
I have things
Graver to speak of than admiring ladies
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
Play no tricks.
Before me, Satan; try no mumming game.
If you speak truth, let riddles cloak it not.
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
God is infinite,
Likewise His wisdom. His omniscience wills
That I go forth among the haunts of men
And offer evil to their touch. Thereby,
Some spurn me—and the force whereby they spurn
Lifts them up nearer to His arms. Some take
The sin I offer, fall from grace, go down—
And lost in fathomless gulfs of wickedness,
Cry out with utter yearning to His love
That it may save them, and repentant turn
Their prodigal faces toward His doors again,
Never to wander more. But some few souls,
Who neither spurn temptation nor repent
After their fall—these unregenerate
It is mine office wholly to destroy
And cleanse the universe for the praise of God.
Thus does all evil serve His mighty throne,
And all return to Him.[68]
FAUST
I have no power
To take the measure of the words you speak.
Why tell me such things?
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
He is your hope,
Your sole salvation in a universe
Where never other form shall comfort you—
A waif except for Him. So have all souls—
The holy and the pure—from age to age,
Learned, homesick for His home. Their frustrate hopes,
Their burdens heavier than by mortal strength
Can be sustained, their impotence, bow down
Each spirit: and it cries: "O God, support
My helplessness; unto Thy perfect will
Do I resign my vain and evil hopes,
My burdens; and Thy Will Be Done Forever."
Thus, with arms folded on despairing breast,
With head bowed to the inscrutable decree,
They seek Him: and a sudden glory fills
The humbled bosom; all His stars and thrones
Shine down upon it; all His majesty
Enters that lowly door, lifts up, sustains
The sundered soul; and His beneficence
With more than father-love enfolds the heart
Joined to His own forever. From His light
Reflected radiance pours; to the dark sight
Comes glimpse of the high justice of God's will;
And all roads lead to Heaven, and all hearts lie
Within His love, and all's well with the world.
[Deep organ music begins to roll through the arches
of the cathedral. Candles are lighted one by one
on the High Altar. Worshippers begin to enter the[70]
nave: they pass down the long central aisle and
gather in groups at the far end, near the Altar.
Faust stands leaning against a pillar, silent and lost
in meditation.
Brander enters among the worshippers. He passes
the spot where Faust is standing, glances at him and
stops, astonished.
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
She came
And spoke to me a little while ago.
BRANDER
FAUST
Do you mean...
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
I am sorry if—
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
Voices Singing
BRANDER
There is God!
FAUST
Voices Singing
BRANDER
BRANDER
SATAN
FAUSTrising
(
)
What will?...
BRANDER
Faust!
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
Begone,
Judas!...
BRANDER
Blasphemy!
Ah, Faust, what madness!...[78]
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
Nay!
In this dim hour of desolation's reign
Upon my soul, I summon to my soul
All powers that good or evil may consign
To the most lonely man in all the world;
I lift my voice, burdened with all the weight
Of loathing and of longing, and I cry:
My curse upon Thee, lure of dying hearts!
May lightnings smite Thy altars back to earth!
BRANDER
Suddenly there bursts into the hall a rout of wildly gay and dancing maskers: Harlequin, Columbine, a Pig,
Pantaloon, an enormously tall Ghost, Clowns, a Skeleton, Ballet-girls, Oriental Princesses, Monks, Courtiers,
Turks and Jew Pedlers. The first few attempt to draw back on seeing the chairs and the four old men; but they
are pushed on by those behind. Once in, they all circle about in a crazy dance, singing over and over the same
verse.
THE MASKERS
CLOWNshouting
(
)
Stop! Stop! I want to teach another verse[80]
To you before we go back to the others.
[Loud laughter. The song continues.
THE SKELETONshouting
(
)
Isn't one bad enough?
CLOWN
A poor thing—but
It is mine own.
THE PIG
CLOWN
A MONK
THE PIG
SKELETON
AN OLD MAN
Yes.
There must be
Party upstairs?
Well! Well!
[Two men enter, look around and take seats in the
DOCTOR
LAWYER
DOCTOR
LAWYER
Well, I know
The man, however slightly; you do not,
And so can hardly share my expectation.
But he has been, throughout these many years,
So secretive, so self-contained, so deep
In matters that I could not guess, that now,
When he at last promises to proclaim
Some strange discovery, I half believe
It will be worth our coming.[82]
[Two women enter together. The younger one is
leading a child by the hand. The older, a gaunt,
spinsterly-looking figure, peers about with a near-sighted
glance.
MERCHANT'S WIFE
CHILD
MERCHANT'S WIFE
OLD WOMAN
I am just
A little curious myself. I learned
When I was young all that they thought was known
About the Devil; and if this Mr. Faust
Has really made some new discovery
About him, it seems well that even the young
Should be informed of it.
[A number of detached men and women enter and
take seats silently. They are followed by two
plumbers in overalls, carrying the tools of their
trade still with them.
YOUNG PLUMBER
OLD PLUMBER
YOUNG PLUMBER
OLD PLUMBER
BUTCHER
OLD PLUMBER
BUTCHER
Well, that
Will be outrageous, in these troubled times
Of strikes and lock-outs. Without any doubt,
If he goes trying to harness up the Devil,
It will precipitate a teamsters' strike.
Using non-union horses always does.
YOUNG PLUMBER
CHILD
Mother, Mother!
Will there be moving pictures?
MERCHANT'S WIFE
BANKER
Do not apologize
Now that you've brought me. As I said at first,
I am prepared to see a mountebank
Perform his pretty tricks of eloquence
To set the crowd agape. Why, once a week
The Ethical Society hires one
To work the same performance—quite the same
Each time. Unearth a few forgotten doubts,
Or dig your elbow into some new dogma,
And you will see the mob fawn at your feet,
Believing you the greatest mind since Plato.
BANKER
We shall see!
And afterwards, the drinks shall be on you.
[A gawky young man who has flour in his hair, and
GIRL
BAKER
GIRL
BAKER
YOUNG STUDENT
YOUNGER STUDENT
Oh, I forgot
My note-book. Can you tear a sheet from yours?
THE MAN
(
)
What do you get by being philosopher?
I don't see how you do it. I could never
Think about nothing all the time, like you.
OLD PLUMBER
YOUNG PLUMBER
MIDGE
BRANDER
MIDGE
BRANDER
CHILD
Mother, when
Will the show start?
MERCHANT'S WIFE
CHILD
FAUST
For I come
Announcing not the common verities
Of learned books, or laboratory lore,
Or ancient heresies; as speaks the fool,
So speak I—from my heart. What I have seen,
That shall you see, and with grim gladness hold
Close in your hearts. Yes, all the world shall see it—
I am a tower burning to light the world!
(He pauses a moment, meditatively)
OLD WOMANwhispering
(
)
He has a good opinion of himself.
FAUST
And I cry
With all the passion of my baffled soul—
Cast down your God! Cast down your peace and trust
In His far Will! It is a solace mete
For slaves, not men. With bitter hand, destroy
This idol of destruction! Smite all haunts
Of faith and resignation and defeat
And rest and peace and comfort. Heaven and earth
Alike are poisoned: somnolence in heaven,
Decay on earth is regnant. Every faith
And law and nation must in wreck go down
For us who see the death that taints their halls;
And ruin shall walk reckless through the world,
Destroying tombs where life is daily slain!
(
)
My friends, I came to listen, not to speak.
But when such words as these from impious lips
Fall lightly, I must rise here to refute
Their poisonous message. Three days since, I stood
With this man in the sacred halls of God,
And witnessed in his heart the glory grow
Of God's bright hope. Then suddenly from Hell,
Or from his own deep, labyrinthine heart,[90]
Sprang fiends to snatch him back from heaven's clear gate
And God's deliverance. And his bitter lips,
By thirst so nearly quenched made bitterer yet,
Cried blasphemies against the powers of heaven
And all bright starry hopes that light our days
With faith and glory. And the hand of God,
Inscrutably withheld, smote him not dumb,
But suffered him to go. Now in our sight
He rises to proclaim his searing doubt,
His hot destroying passion, and tears down
Our fairest altars. I, who was his friend,
Hereby renounce him; and in sober words
Counsel all men to flee the company
Of one who hates the great hopes of the world!
[As Brander sits down, there is some scattered applause
in the audience. Faces are turned toward him.
Midge sits motionless, her face buried in her hands.
FAUST
BUTCHER
Here!
Don't you go shaking any fist at me![91]
GIRL
MERCHANT'S WIFE
OLD PLUMBER
YOUNG PLUMBER
BUTCHER
BANKER
I'm not
Religious; but I cannot stand for that.
YOUNG STUDENT
BUTCHER
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
YOUNG PLUMBER
OLD PLUMBER
YOUNG PLUMBER
Leave me alone!
SATAN
YOUNG STUDENT
What is he saying?
CHILD
YOUNG PLUMBER
BUTCHER
Good riddance!
There isn't room on earth for jokes like you!
BUTCHER
GIRL
You brute!
SATAN
YOUNG PLUMBER
BUTCHER
Nor I!
MERCHANT'S WIFE
Go after him!
FAUST
YOUNG PLUMBER
SATAN
FAUST
YOUNG PLUMBER
BUTCHER
OLD WOMAN
BUTCHER
CRIES
FAUST
THE MASKERS
BUTLER
BRANDER
I will wait
A moment, and perhaps may see the doctor
BUTLER
Yes, sir.
[The doctor enters from the door on the left. The
butler goes out.
BRANDER
How is he?
DOCTOR
BRANDER
DOCTOR
I only see
That we are doing all we can for him.
Beyond that, I can say no more than you.
BRANDER
DOCTOR
Oh, no harm.
You might have seen him when you came this morning
If you had waited. You can see him here.
He wanted to be in this room again,
And I make no objection. Well, good-bye.
[The doctor goes out. Brander moves restlessly
about the room. A moment later, the door on the
left opens, and Faust, reclining in an invalid's chair,
is wheeled into the room by the butler. He is clad in
a long dressing-gown; he is very pale. The butler,
after placing the chair before the fireplace, goes
out. Brander remains doubtfully in the background;
Faust does not observe his presence.
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
Nay, my words
Mean more than you interpret. I am saved—
Not as you count salvation. Nay, I come
To one last refuge, finding all others vain.
The common joys, the peace of nescience,
The trust in some far Will, the hope to flame
A beacon in the darkness of men's dreams:
Driven forth from these, one citadel still lifts
Heaven-fronting: there I stand, delivered, free,
Master again—that citadel, my soul.
I have escaped from all the bondages;
And now bow down to nothing. Joy or pain,
Defeat or conquest, good or evil, now
Lure me no more. I will put hope in nothing
Save in that whole strange glistening mortal life
That past me streams unto an end sublime
Whereof you know not. All our ends are folly,
And win not what they seek; yet there is joy
In seeking; and one end there is that shows
A brighter glow. I am the watcher set[101]
Upon the heights. In my impassioned sight
All life is holy that strives unto life:
Death only is damnation. I will be
More happy than the happiest man, more strong
Than is the strongest! I will climb on the neck
Of this great monster, Life, and guide its course—
For I am master—toward that end I see
Hidden afar off.
BRANDER
FAUST
FAUST
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
O my friend, my friend,
I would my tongue could cry as my heart cries—
Turn back from darkness before the hour has struck!
Even yet may mercy fold you. God is great
And tender; and perhaps His love may clasp
Even your aloofness, if at last your heart[105]
Calls in repentance to Him. O Faust, Faust,
Sink your vain pride of spirit—kneel to Him—
Beseech His mercy ere it is too late!
FAUST
BRANDER
Has no breath
Of heavenly love touched this corrosive core
Of hell-fire in you?
FAUST
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
BRANDER
FAUST
Who loves must hate, who hates must burn with love....
I hate the world; but like the breath of life,
Sustaining me even yet a little while,
Is my surpassing love for its great hopes.
Aye, in the hour when I knew myself alone,
My hate cried: Smite!—because of thy great love
For one irradiant form that is to be.
BRANDER
FAUST
FAUST
He will go down
Not singing, no, not singing!...
(He once more takes up the manuscript, and turns
to the last pages)
And now, when from my shoulders like a load
Begins to slip the weariness of life,
And a new vigor fills me—now it seems
That death is hovering close. O Grisly One,
Whom once I thought a not unwelcome guest
To my cold troubled house, I am not glad
To hear thy steps without. For in my halls
Lights kindle, and the music sobs and sings
In ecstasy of other guests than thee....
(He takes up his pen and turns to the end of the
manuscript, as if to write)
Can this poor strength suffice me to complete
These final words? Nay, better to leave unsaid
The few last lines my vanity desires
To tell and justify my end and fall
Like flourish of bright trumpets. Let them sleep
Unuttered; for the burden of my song
Is voiced already in these labored leaves;
And it is well, unfinished and unclosed
Should stop this record, whose concluding words
Of fairer hope, of sheerer miracle,[108]
Some greater hand than mine shall some day write
And seal the chronicle—nay, never seal it!
[The butler enters.
BUTLER
FAUST
BUTLER
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
Aha! At last
Light penetrates that cobwebbed cranium,
And I can laugh in public! All these months,[109]
I several times have come perilously near
Bursting with mirth at the rare spectacle.
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
My thanks
Are in appropriate measure tendered you.
SATAN
FAUST
Why, indeed?
SATAN
FAUST
It is
Completed wholly.
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
Possibly.
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
If it comes, it comes.
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
Eager? I am not.
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUSTslowly rising
(
)
I am that dreamer to whose mounting dreams
No bounds are set, no region which my will
May not reach out toward. And I will create[113]—
I, and the souls that after me shall come—
By passion of desire a pillar of flame
Above the wastes of life. If no God be,
I will from my deep soul create a God
Into the universe to fight for me!
(He sinks back)
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
I shall remain!...
[Faust and Satan sit silent, watching each other
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
SATAN
FAUST
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